REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAIRO - A court in southern Egyptian has convicted 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Mursi, sentencing them to death on charges of murdering a policeman and attacking police.
The court in Minya issued its ruling on Monday after only two sessions in which the defendants' lawyers complained they had no chance to present their case. Those convicted are part of a group of 545 defendants on trial for the killing of a police officer, attempted killing of two others, attacking a police station and other acts of violence.
"The court has decided to sentence to death 529 defendants, and 16 were acquitted," lawyer Ahmed al-Sharif told Reuters. The ruling can be appealed.
"This is the quickest case and the number sentenced to death is the largest in the history of the judiciary," said lawyer Nabil Abdel Salam, who defends some Brotherhood leaders including Mursi.
State television reported the sentences without comment. A government spokesman did not immediately respond to calls. "When the trial starts on Saturday and it is just a procedural hearing, and the judge doesn't listen to any lawyers or witnesses and doesn't even call the defendants, you are before a group of thugs and not the judiciary," Walid, a relative of one of the defendants, said by phone.
More than 150 suspects stood trial, the others were tried in absentia. Sixteen were acquitted. The defendants were arrested after violent demonstrations that were a backlash for the police crackdown in August on pro-Mursi sit-ins in Cairo that killed hundreds of people.
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